The following is discussion of Day 2 of my 10-day detox. To begin with Day 1, click here.
The theory of a detox, as given to me by my guy, goes like this:
There are toxins everywhere. They are in the air we breathe and in the food we eat. They are in the casings of the pills we take (for supplements, I guess) and in the paint on the walls we lick. Everywhere. The toxins consist of many things – heavy metals are an example – but the broad definition is anything that might make you sick. The liver acts as a big filter for these toxins, keeping them from getting into our bloodstreams. Toxins, however, are fat soluble … and extra toxins that the liver doesn’t handle get stored in our fat cells, as well as in the liver. Everybody should detox periodically (he recommends spring and fall), but in particular people getting ready to lose weight must do this. As we lose weight, the fat cells shrink and wind up releasing some of the toxins that they are carrying and unleashing them on our livers. The liver, meanwhile, is busy with the day-to-day business of filtering toxins and is not going to be able to keep up with the onslaught. The result is that we get sick. The best way to keep from getting sick is to detoxify the liver ahead of time and prepare it for the toxic hordes.
Some of this makes sense to me. The liver IS basically a filter, and it is a regenerative organ … so if it is damaged or dirty and you clean it up it will heal itself. And there are toxins everywhere, I agree with that statement. Where I start to get fuzzy is this idea that losing weight will make you sick. Frankly, that usually goes the other way. I recently lost 50 pounds, and I felt like a million dollars. A million damn dollars. So I’m not sure I buy the underlying theory. I also know from a few minutes with the Google that there is no scientific evidence that this detoxification theory, which is quite old, really holds water. Effects are either not measurable or unrepeatable.
All of this to say – I’m not really in this for the detoxification element of the regimen. Though I’m open to reconsideration of some of this upon completion of the ten days. In the meantime, I’m using this as a caloric kickstart to get some religion about eating right and tracking my food again.
Day 2 sucked, but not as badly as Day 1.
Again, this wasn’t about the food so much. My list of available foods constricted, but only marginally – I lost eggs and dairy. That brings the list of things that are now gone from my diet up to six – caffeine, alcohol, meat, refined sugars, eggs, and dairy. Coming up I’m going to be losing things like wheat and gluten and even nuts, but for today this is where we are.
And I cheated like hell this morning. The plan was to eat oatmeal at the cafeteria at work. Wouldn’t you know, this morning they had farina, not oatmeal. Not my thing. So I said screw it and got another veggie omelet, no cheese. I had two eggs today, which were not approved. Day two and I’m out of control
Or not so much. My wife’s response? “Its not like it was fried chicken.” Amen. I married her for a reason.
So I don’t feel guilty about that at all. Snacks were apples, almonds, and prunes again … though today I got to start having my shakes. A normal sized shake is two scoops of powder with 8 oz of water, plus a scoop of the optional veggie stuff. They start us slow, though – today was only two shakes with 1 scoop of powder each (always adding the veggie stuff). By day five I’ll be drinking 5 2-scoop shakes, but we’ll get there slowly. And here’s the thing about the shakes – they are awful. The worst part is that the powder doesn’t really dissolve, so it is a grainy gross blah. I had asked for original (= neutral) flavored shake and espresso flavored veggie stuff, but wound up with strawberry kiwi veggie stuff. So this is basically gross.
Can’t WAIT until I go two days having basically that and lettuce for food.
Lunch was leftover ratatouille (did I mention that was awesome?), and dinner was a vegetarian three-bean chili that turned out really good. So, from a food perspective, today wasn’t so bad again.
The headache started around lunchtime again. This time it wasn’t so debilitating, though, and there were stretches through the afternoon where it really wasn’t there at all. I also made it a point to take my big vitamin pills right after food, and so I avoided the nausea that I experienced yesterday. I’m thinking tomorrow or the next day I’ll be over the caffeine withdrawal and be able to move on.
So day two was not a bust, and I’m still full-speed ahead for day three. I made a minestrone soup tonight using a suggested recipe, and that will be dinner tomorrow … it looks like it will be good. Tomorrow we lose wheat and gluten, then Thursday we’re down to vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Starting Friday the bottom falls out.
As I said yesterday – buckle up, because we’re riding.
Day 3 can be found here
A Constant State of Hunger 
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